A Different Point of View

Ayotte/Collins

To be iconic is to be widely recognized.

Your task for this assignment is to find an iconic photograph that appeals to you in some way and to research it: the people in it, the time period, the context...

After researching the image, you will write from the perspective of the photographer or a person in the image.

You may write a letter, a diary entry, an article, or anything else you see fit. For instance, you can select the photo of the "Falling Man" from the September 11th tragedy and then write a farewell letter from him to his mother.

Purpose: This assignment will allow you to incorporate research but also make it your own, bringing out your creativity. You can't be "wrong" because you are creating a fictional account.

Consider what happened just before the photo was taken. What happened just afterwards?

Some possible events in the news:
-Hurricane Katrina
-First face transplant
-Elian Gonsalez
-Tsunami in Japan, 2011

Pulitzer "Breaking News" Award Winners

Picturing the Century: One Hundred Years of Photography from the National Archives
A digital retrospective of the best of the National Archives still photography collections. The photographs in this online exhibit represent seminal events and everyday life in America throughout the 20th century.

Time Magazine
http://time.com/3572139/time-top-10-photos-2014/
http://time.com/3445111/time-picks-the-top-10-photos-of-2012/
http://time.com/3423489/time-picks-the-top-10-photos-of-2013/
http://time.com/3423580/time-picks-the-top-10-photos-of-2011/
http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2038041,00.html
http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1946595,00.html

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/photo/2008-year-in-pictures/
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/photo/2009-year-in-pictures/
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/photo/2010-year-in-pictures/
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/25/sunday-review/2011-pictures-of-the-year.html
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/30/sunday-review/2012-year-in-pictures.html
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/year-in-pictures/
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/28/sunday-review/2014-year-in-pictures.html?_r=0

The Commons on Flickr
This web site aims to make publicly held photographs and photography collections accessible to a wide audience. Visitors are encouraged to participate in the project by adding tags to photos and by commenting on them. Participating institutions include the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the State Library of New South Wales, the Brooklyn Museum, and more.